One way of preparing a baby food meal is to steam a food product, e.g. fruits and/or vegetables, and subsequently blend the food product in the same apparatus. Such a combined steaming and blending apparatus is disclosed in EP 2 163 178 A1. This apparatus comprises a container for receiving the food product, wherein the container comprises at its bottom side a sieve having a plurality of apertures. The apparatus furthermore comprises a steamer for generating steam, wherein the steam is supplied to the interior of the container through the plurality of apertures within the sieve. The steam thus homogeneously cooks the food product. When steaming is complete, the container has to be removed as a whole and rotated 180°. The base of the container then faces downwardly and a drive shaft of a motor unit, which is located in the base unit of the apparatus, engages with a blade assembly. The blade assembly is driven by the drive shaft of the motor unit to chop and blend the steamed food product until the desired consistency is reached. The lid of the container may then be removed so that the steamed and blended food product may be taken out of the container. The steamed and blended food product, e.g. the baby food meal, is then ready to serve.
A disadvantage of such an apparatus is that the meal cannot be prepared from the food product in the container without user interaction, i.e. preparing the meal requires that the user needs to be present at the apparatus to change from steaming to blending. Actually, the user does not only have to operate a button to change from steaming to blending, but also has to remove the container and rotate it by 180°.
There is thus still room for improvement.
EP 2 777 450 A1 discloses a food preparation appliance for preparing food, comprising an outer bowl with a bottom and a peripheral sidewall. An inner bowl is disposed at least in part within the outer bowl in spaced relationship therewith such that a gap is defined between the inner and outer bowls. The inner bowl has an interior space in which food is contained. A steam generator is in fluid communication with the gap between the inner bowl and the outer bowl, and is operable to deliver steam into the gap between the inner bowl and the outer bowl. The inner bowl and the outer bowl are configured relative to each other to define a tortuous flow path for steam to flow from the gap between the inner and outer bowls into the interior space of the inner bowl.